During Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure, the police were criticised for being extremely trigger-happy while the former premier was accused of turning a blind eye to the carnage.

A decade after relinquishing his reins, Mahathir today revealed that his position on this issue has not changed.

mahathir at naza car launching 080713 03 Responding to Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's controversial "shoot first" remark, the former prime minister said he would rather see a suspected criminal killed as opposed to a policeman losing his life.

"I would rather give the risk to the criminal than ask the police to take the risk of being shot.

"When you see someone who is armed with gun, who may want to shoot you, it is better for you to shoot first.

"But of course, when somebody is not armed, you don't go around and shoot," he told a press conference in Cheras.

Zahid, however, came under intense fire for his remark, with various quarters criticising him for instigating murder and ignoring the rule of law.

Those responsible must be punished

Responding to the case of missing police guns as highlighted in the Auditor-General’s Report 2012, Mahathir said that investigations need to be done and those responsible should be punished.

“A thorough investigation should be done and if the persons are found for being careless, they should be punished. Otherwise there is no lesson to be learnt,” Mahathir said.

The report, which was tabled in Parliament last week, reveals that 44 guns are missing from the police force.

Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar has said the missing guns may have fallen into the sea .

However, Zahid said this was due to carelessness and mistakes of the security force personnel and had nothing to do with breach of trust, deviant acts or elements of bribery.

At the same time, Auditor-General Ambrin Buang blamed this on carelessness of police personnel.

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